U.S. should review aid policy for Indonesia

U.S. should review aid policy for Indonesia

WASHINGTON: Indonesia's failure to cooperate in investigating the murders of two U.S. citizens in the Indonesian province of Papua should trigger a "fundamental change in approach" to the southeast Asian nation, U.S. Senator Russell Feingold said on Monday.

President George W. Bush intends to release funds for military assistance to Indonesia despite indications that the Indonesian military was behind the murders, the Democratic senator wrote in an opinion piece in The Washington Post.

The cost of the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, 400,000 dollars in 2003, "is insignificant in comparison with the magnitude of this outrage," Feingold wrote.

Unidentified gunmen last August fired more than 100 rounds at a convoy carrying employees of the U.S.-owned Freeport copper and gold mine near Timika in Indonesia's easternmost province. Two U.S. teachers and an Indonesian colleague died. Twelve others, mostly Americans, were wounded.

Police have said that a witness linked Indonesian special forces soldiers to the killings. -- AFP